President Emmanuel Macron of France agreed to take back asylum seekers who were first registered in France, a boon for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany as she seeks to forge an accord on limiting migration in the bloc. In return, Mr. Macron squeezed concessions from Germany on his economic reform plans that he could sell at home (where he is facing criticism for reprimanding a high school student).

The spectacle of his agonizing battle against an inflexible bureaucracy prompted a national debate about legalizing the drug itself for recreational use (an idea firmly opposed by the government of Prime Minister Theresa May).

But the government’s move underlined a growing consensus about Britain’s zero-tolerance marijuana policy: “Any war has been comprehensively and irreversibly lost,” a former leader of Mrs. May’s Conservative Party wrote.

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CreditRichard Drew/Associated Press

•Global markets are shaking.

President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on as much as $450 billion worth of Chinese imports — almost every Chinese product that comes into the U.S. — sent stocks lower across the globe. Above, a broker at the New York Stock Exchange.

In a conference call with reporters, Peter Navarro, a White House trade adviser, asserted that China had more to lose from a trade war than the U.S. He again faulted China for unfair trade practices and said Mr. Trump had given China “every chance to change its aggressive behavior.”

•Archiving history as it happens: That’s the goal of “rapid response collecting,” which is being practiced by museums across Europe and America.

A curator at the National Museum of Ireland woke up early the day after her country’s abortion referendum, grabbing campaign posters and putting out a call for flags, banners and signs — anything that could be preserved.

In the News

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CreditAli Dia/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

• The United Nations refugee agency reported that the total number of forcibly displaced people rose by almost three million people in 2017, to 68.5 million. It was the sixth consecutive year that the figure hit a post-World War II record. [The New York Times]

• The U.S. withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council — the world’s most important human rights body — in protest of its frequent criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. [The New York Times]

• Intense fighting in Yemen. Arab coalition troops pounded targets in the main port city in an effort to drive out Iran-aligned rebels, while dock workers unloaded aid to feed six million people for a month. [The New York Times]

• World Cup: Russia essentially knocked Egypt out of the tournament with a 3-1 victory. (Russia scored all three of its goals in just 16 minutes.) [The New York Times]

• A top European Union court ruled that the French far-right leader Marine le Pen must repay to the European Parliament 300,000 euros incorrectly paid to an assistant. [Associated Press]

• A Syrian migrant admitted in a German court that he attacked an Israeli man wearing a skullcap in Berlin. The assault, captured on video, has prompted widespread alarm about rising anti-Semitism in Germany. [Deutsche Welle]

• In memoriam: Myrtle Allen, 94, who defined modern Irish cuisine by using local ingredients at a restaurant she created in an imposing Georgian house on a 300-acre farm in County Cork.

• The elusive noises of narwhals: Scientists are rushing to study the sounds made by the deep-diving, long-tusked whales as melting ice opens up their once inaccessible east Greenland habitat.

Back Story

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CreditUniversal Studios, via Associated Press

Steven Spielberg’s genre-defining film “Jaws” was released on this day in 1975. It was his first big-budget film, and it ushered in one of the industry’s most successful careers.

But the production was troubled with delays and budget-busting costs. Crew members called it “Flaws,” and Mr. Spielberg — not yet 30 years old — worried he might never work in Hollywood again. “No one had ever taken a film 100 days over schedule,” he said.

Especially problematic were three animatronic sharks meant to serve as the focal predator. Collectively known as Bruce (after Mr. Spielberg’s lawyer), they proved disappointingly unmenacing. And they corroded and malfunctioned because the young director insisted on the realism of filming in the ocean, not in a tank.

Unable to show more than a few scenes of the film’s linchpin, Mr. Spielberg improvised. He filmed some scenes from the shark’s point of view and signaled its presence with John Williams’ now-iconic theme song. The result: a Hitchcockian buildup of tension and suspense. (The Times review was a bit dismissive.)

Even the production delays ended up helping. “Jaws” missed the traditional Christmas window, and a later release (and a marketing blitz) made it one of the first summer blockbusters.

Emma McAleavy wrote today’s Back Story.

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